1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to the field of software. The present invention is more specifically related to the field of management of information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organizational charts have long been used to represent the relationships between people in an organization, such as a corporate entity or societal group. As technology has progressed, databases have been maintained with the information associated with organizational charts as part of the databases. Such databases have the advantages of not having a physical limit to the information stored therein, as long as the supporting technology can contain the database. As a result, databases may be used to store not just the names and relationships of people in an organization, but may also include much richer information about each member of an organization.
Furthermore, databases may be implemented to also store information about physical assets and other items an organization monitors. Databases may contain information on buildings used by an organization, phone numbers within an organization, locations of assets such as computers within an organization, and many other attributes. Note, for instance, that location of an asset may include its physical location, as well as its logical location within the control of a suborganization (such as a marketing or engineering department) within an organization.
One relatively recently available method for storage of information is use of a directory server and a lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP). A directory server stores data entries in name-value or attribute-value pairs. Utilizing LDAP, queries can be made of the directory server, thereby locating a set of data entries which match the query. As a result, the information often stored in databases may be stored in a medium accessible to a directory server, and queries may be used to access this information. However, the directory server does not feature the strong typing capabilities that databases do. As an example, a data entry intended to be a telephone number, named xe2x80x98phonexe2x80x99 and intended to store only numeric values, will store the value xe2x80x9cfour-one-fivexe2x80x9d just as easily as it will store xe2x80x9c415xe2x80x9d in a directory server. Likewise, a database may allow a restriction on the size of a field of characters, whereas the directory server may store the data as a string of ASCII characters, but not limit the length of the string.
A method and apparatus for implementing a service center is described. This includes a method of searching a plurality of data entries, each data entry having a plurality of attributes, comprising: providing a common characteristic; seaching the plurality of data entries for the common characteristic; and organizing the data entries which have the common characteristic of the plurality of data entries.
This also includes a method of determining a set of options given a defined characteristic comprising: searching a plurality of data entries for each data entry having the defined characteristic; generating a set of data entries from the searching, the set of data entries comprising each data entry having the defined characteristic, the set of data entries being a subset of the plurality of data entries; and organizing the set of data entries.
This further includes a method of providing information comprising: obtaining a data entry from a directory server, the data entry having a plurality of data items; and displaying the data entry in a human readable form by displaying a subset of the plurality of data items.
This additionally includes a method of maintaining a database of a plurality of data entries, each data entry having a unique identifier, comprising: changing the unique identifier for a first entry of the plurality of data entries, thereby creating a changed unique identifier for the first entry; searching the plurality of data entries for a subset of data entries, each data entry of the subset of data entries having a reference to the first entry; and updating the reference to the first entry of each data entry of the subset of data entries to reflect the changed unique identifier of the first entry.
Moreover, this includes a method of processing changes to a plurality of data entries comprising: receiving a first request for a change in a data entry of the plurality of data entries; automatically generating a predefined set of corresponding requests, the corresponding requests defined as prerequisites to completing the change for which the first request was received; maintaining status indicating whether the requests of the set of corresponding requests have been completed or denied; and generating a result, the result being either denial of the first request for the change or completion of the first request for the change, completion of the first request for the change including modification of the data entry of the plurality of data entries.
Additionally, this includes a method of displaying a data entry on a display comprising: displaying the data entry in a first manner of display; receiving a first triggering event, the first triggering event corresponding to a second manner of display; and displaying the data entry in the second manner of display in response to the first triggering event.
Moreover, this includes a method of accessing a set of data entries, each data entry comprising a set of data items, comprising: providing a set of semantic types of data items, each semantic type having a name and a treatment; recognizing a data item of a data entry of the set of data entries as having a first semantic type of the set of semantic types; and handling the data item of the data entry of the set of data entries according to the treatment of the first semantic type.
Additionally, this includes a method of controlling access to a set of data entries comprising: restricting access to a first subset of the set of data entries; restricting modification requests to a second subset of the set of data entries; and restricting modification to a third subset of the set of data entries.
Moreover, this includes a method of implementing access control to a set of data entries comprising: setting a first access control regime for a first organization, an access control regime being a set of restrictions; setting a second access control regime for a second organization; and arbitrating between the first access control regime and the second access control regime for a person, the person being a member of the first organization and a member of the second organization.
This also includes apparatus suitable for performing such functions and media embodying instructions suitable for causing a machine to perform such methods.